322 The Winning of the West 



while the Creoles in their turn disliked the Ameri- 

 cans as rude and uncultivated barbarians. For some 

 time they felt much discontent with the United 

 States, nor was this discontent allayed when in 1804 

 the Territory of Orleans was reorganized with a gov- 

 ernment much less liberal than that enjoyed by In- 

 diana or Mississippi ; nor even when in 1805 an 

 ordinary territorial government was provided. A 

 number of years were to pass before Louisiana felt 

 itself, in fact no less than in name, part of the 

 Union. 



Naturally there was a fertile field for seditious 

 agitation in New Orleans, a city of mixed popula- 

 tion, where the, numerically predominant race felt 

 a puzzled distrust for the nation of which it sudden- 

 ly found itself an integral part, and from past ex- 

 perience firmly believed in the evanescent nature of 

 any political connection it might have, whether with 

 Spain, France, or the United States. The Creoles 

 murmured because they were not given the same 

 privileges as American citizens in the old States, 

 and yet showed themselves indifferent to such priv- 

 ileges as they were given. They were indignant be- 

 cause the National Government prohibited the im- 

 portation of slaves into Louisiana, and for the mo- 

 ment even the transfer thither of slaves from the 

 old States a circumstance, by the way, which cu- 

 riously illustrated the general dislike and disap- 

 proval of slavery then felt, even by an administra- 

 tion under Southern control. The Creoles further 

 complained of Claiborne's indifference to their 



